Your investment in your meat processing chain must deliver quality results for both your customers’ retail products and for your bottom line. The intersection of these 2 requirements brings you to Challenge RMF.
From our patent to our performance, the Challenge RMF massager/marinater delivers science-based, results-driven yields for every client.
Call us, and let’s talk about your products, your processing needs, and your profit margins. We’ve got the science behind industrial massaging and mixing systems and can speak it in stakeholder language—whether it’s in the boardroom, on the processing floor, or at the loading dock.
Read on to understand the tech behind our talk.
Quality + Yield = Profit
The best science starts with a dose of common sense.
You need to deliver quality products to your clients. They use these products to create quality food for their customers. When customers enjoy their satisfying, flavorful meats—they buy more and the business grows.
The science behind achieving all of this requires that our team of engineers, tests, builds, and sells the best meat processing equipment. Challenge RMF’s patented Meat-on-Meat Massage™ technology continues to evolve with industry needs while improving revenue for industrial and commercial meat processors.
Patent Number: 4,517,888
In the beginning, massager/marinater inventor Bruce M. Gould of Fullerton, CA, applied for a patent on his new idea for industrial massaging and mixing equipment. Tired of seeing the damage and loss caused by the general tumbler on the market, he had a new approach. In the 11 pages of technical description, including demonstrative illustrations, he showed a new way to tenderize cuts of meat, both bone-in and boneless, in multiple sizes.
Instead of the hydraulic shock dealt to muscle by industrial grade mixing tilting tumblers, he created a helical flight inside the rotating drum. This caused the meat pieces to move and slide across each other, creating a massaging action.
According to the patent:
“In a particular example of the processor of the invention for massaging bone-in and boneless meat products, pieces weighing between 49 lbs. to 57 lbs. per cubic foot would be introduced into the drum.”
Bruce also described the yield potential:
“The pieces are injected with up to 40% curing brine. Aside from the seepage of injected brine and a minor amount of free brine, there would be little float present in the load.
During massaging, all of the free moisture would be absorbed by the meat. Upon completion of the process, the load would be more viscous, yet remain slippery and easy to handle.”
And he started with his eye on your bottom line:
“Initial capital costs are substantially reduced with the present invention as are the operating labor and expenses. The costs and labor for cleansing the apparatus are reduced and this can be affected at a rotational speed of about 10 to 12 rpm.”
And all of that innovation started back then. Now, Challenge RMF has advanced the design with modern technology and manufacturing, along with customization based on your requirements—while still reducing expenses for your processing plant.
Building Better Yield
Our industrial massaging and mixing equipment improves yield by non-destructively increasing the water-holding capacity (WHC) of your product.
What is WHC?
WHC refers to the meat’s ability to retain moisture during processing, cooking, and storage. The fact is, WHC provides a win-win for both the processor and the consumer.
The water-holding capacity defines the meat’s:
- Juiciness
- Tenderness
- Overall quality
Lower WHC means drier, tougher meat—and diminished customer satisfaction. It also means decreased yield, which impacts your bottom line. To remedy the loss, we must look to the critical isoelectric point during the massaging/marinating process.
The Science Behind the Isoelectric Point
The word “isoelectric” comes from a combination of the Greek prefix “iso-” meaning “equal” or “same,” combined with the word “electric.” Here, “electric” refers to the electrical charge of specific proteins in the meat.
The isoelectric point (pI) defines the point at which the pH level causes the water-binding proteins within the meat to have a zero net electrical charge. At this pI, the protein’s ability to bind water is at its lowest.
The Relationship and Importance for Yield
When meat pH approaches the isoelectric point, the minimal net charge causes a reduced electrostatic repulsion between the proteins, making them pack more tightly together. Moisture seeps out of the tissue (“drip loss”), and yield—along with the consumer-desired “juiciness” and visual appeal in the package—downgrades.
On the other hand, when meat processors create pH levels that are higher or lower than the isoelectric point, proteins gain a net charge, increasing their ability to bind water and retain their “juiciness.”
Meat Massaging Maximizes WHC
Using our non-destructive Meat-on-Meat Massage™ technology significantly reduces moisture loss during processing and cooking.
Challenge RMF industrial meat massagers improve the water-holding capacity (WHC) of meat through mechanical action and, often, the introduction of brines or marinades.
Increased Salt Penetration Improves WHC
Most brines and marinades have salt as a key ingredient. Salt increases the ionic strength of the meat, moving it away from the isoelectric point. This causes the muscle fibers to swell, increasing the spaces between them so that more water can bind to the proteins there. The same goes for phosphates, which increase the negative charge of those proteins.
Challenge RMF’s industrial massaging and mixing equipment works to evenly distribute brine and marinade throughout the meat, creating consistent moistness, flavor and improved water-holding capacity throughout the entire product.
Massaging Improves Protein Extraction
A muscle’s structure is an accumulation of hair-thin red muscle fibers that combine to form muscle fiber bundles. These bundles build a whole muscle. White connective tissue forms the network and matrix that contain the red meat fibers.
The gentle yet powerful massaging action inside a Challenge RMF massager/marinater physically relaxes and opens the tight connective tissue sheathing around the red meat fibers. This tenderizes the meat while enabling the fibers to swell during the absorption of water/pickle.
The muscle fiber expansion also extracts salt-soluble proteins from the muscles, which form a sticky exudate on the meat’s surface. This coating enhances water absorption, as it improves binding and cohesion (for products like formed ham).
A Note About “Tumbling”
When comparing the action inside a Challenge RMF industrial massaging and mixing equipment vs. a tilting vacuum tumbler, immediate—and quality-changing—differences appear.
Tumblers with straight flights pummel and beat connective tissue fibers to the point of disintegration. Doing so destroys a muscle’s structure, causing the muscle to lose its shape and integrity.
Tumbling often creates a pulpy texture on the muscle surface to a depth of .25” to .5” within the muscle. Though it emulsifies a muscle’s outer portions to a pulp, the core of the muscle receives little to no tenderization.
The Final Result of Tumbling
In the end, tumbled muscles absorb high quantities of moisture in the emulsified surface area without absorbing moisture at the core. As the lift-and-drop process continues, the surface area rubs off, creating a slushy soup of fractured meat fibers and water.
Any moisture that makes it past this pulpy exterior consists largely of free liquid deposited in pockets between fibers and fiber bundles. It hasn’t bonded to protein, and it will purge after 1 to 2 weeks in the vacuum bag at retail level or in storage.
Massaging Increases Surface Area
Our design delivers penetrating, nondestructive action that loosens, opens, and relaxes the restrictive sheaths of connective tissue. This increases the surface area of the meat due to the swelling and expansion of water-absorbing meat fibers throughout the product.
As the tissues expand, the product better absorbs brines and marinades, distributing the ingredients evenly throughout the meat. This increases the yield and the flavor quality.
Adding Vacuum Doesn’t Suck
Our massager/marinater models include vacuum doors so that you can create a vacuum inside the drum. Removing that atmosphere releases air trapped in the meat, promoting deeper penetration of the brine or marinade. This results in faster and more efficient absorption.
Massagers As Mixers, Too
Several of our clients use their massage/marinater as a “Non-Shear Mixer.” Traditional mixers have agitators inside a tub. Shear points occur where the agitators come near the tub.
Challenge RMF massager/marinaters work as industrial mixing solutions without any shear points that could damage sensitive products.
Further Flexibility
We offer the widest array of customizable options on the market, including:
- Many different batch capacities
- 2- or 4-flight models
- Standard flight and stretch flight models
- Temperature control
- Tilt frame
- Electric or hydraulic drive
- Standard, PLC and PC controls
- Vacuum loading through the door
- Infinitely variable drum rpm’s
The Ultimate Goal: Consistent Flavor, Texture, and Yields
For industrial food processing equipment, Challenge RMF leads the way. When you add our industrial massaging and mixing technology to your processing line, your investment translates to:
- Increased product weight.
- Improved product appearance.
- Enhanced consumer satisfaction.
- Greater economic returns.
The science behind our equipment helps you optimize pH, avoid the isoelectric point, achieve best WHC, and maximize yield in your meat processing.
Use Uncommon Science for Common Sense Solutions
Meat processors turn to Challenge RMF for proven technology that beefs up their bottom line.
Schedule a time to discuss your project and your needs with us. Our team can design, fabricate, and deliver customized industrial massaging and mixing solutions to maximize quality for your customers and profitability for your company.
We may be able to test equipment at your site. Call us at 816.765.4101 or email us at info@rmfworks.com.
About Challenge RMF
For decades our team has designed and manufactured massager/marinaters, vacuum loaders, dumpers, cryogenic marinating technology, and more for meat processors.
Challenge RMF has helped companies the world over, manufacturing and installing customized products in a diverse number of production situations.
From brand-new equipment to replacement parts and repair service, we’re there when you want us and here when you need us. Come explore what’s possible with Challenge RMF.
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